Acupuncturists

Median salary

$76,040

Average salary

$87,020

Employment

7,830

Projected growth

6.8% growth

Annual openings

900

Typical entry education

Master's degree

What Acupuncturists Do

Diagnose, treat, and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles. May also use cups, nutritional supplements, therapeutic massage, acupressure, and other alternative health therapies.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None
Self-employed: 44.1%

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 5 of 5

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience: Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience.
Education: Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Job training: Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 4.5/5
Medicine and Dentistryimportance 4.1/5
Psychologyimportance 3.8/5
Biologyimportance 3.7/5
English Languageimportance 3.6/5
Administrativeimportance 3.5/5
Therapy and Counselingimportance 3.5/5
Administration and Managementimportance 3.4/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

Physical Proximity4.9/5
Freedom to Make Decisions4.8/5
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals4.7/5
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.7/5
E-Mail4.7/5
Contact With Others4.6/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Special Education Teachers, Preschool97% skill match
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors97% skill match
Neurologists96% skill match
Nurse Midwives96% skill match
Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists96% skill match
Dermatologists96% skill match
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School96% skill match
Interpreters and Translators96% skill match

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.8/5
Service Orientationimportance 3.8/5
Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 3.5/5
Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.3/5
Coordinationimportance 3.1/5
Time Managementimportance 3.0/5
Systems Analysisimportance 2.9/5
Systems Evaluationimportance 2.9/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Other Software Used

AcuPartner Professional
Electronic health record EHR software
Miridia Technology AcuGraph
QPuncture II
Qchart
Qpalm Acupuncture
Trigram Software AcuBase Pro

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Empathy
Cautiousness
Integrity
Sincerity
Cooperation

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

SocialHigh
InvestigativeHigh
RealisticMedium
ConventionalMedium
ArtisticLow
EnterprisingLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.